Biomarker Commons

Kantar Health, a leading global healthcare consulting firm, today announced the availability of CancerMPact® Biomarker Analysis, a global offer that examines biomarker segmentation in the current and evolving oncology landscape. The analysis is based on a thorough review of literature and recently published data covering the following biomarkers:

• BRAF (melanoma)
• EGFR (non-small lung cancer)
• EML4-ALK (non-small cell lung cancer)
• KRAS (colorectal cancer)
• TNBC (breast cancer)

Doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that testing cervical tumors before treatment for vulnerability to chemotherapy predicts whether patients will do well or poorly with standard treatment. The study supports the future possibility of personalized medicine for cervical cancer, a tumor normally addressed with a one-size-fits-all approach.

ApoCell, Inc. recently announced that the first prototypes of its ApoStream™ circulating tumor cell (CTC) isolation system have been delivered to select investigator sites including SAIC-Frederick Inc. (SAIC-F) in support of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The delivery is part of a $2.9 million subcontract awarded to ApoCell in Q1-2011 by SAIC-F to develop a device capable of isolating live cancer cells from small volumes of blood.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) recently announced that it presented a series of target-specific biomarkers that are being evaluated in the development of etirinotecan pegol for the treatment of breast cancer. Etirinotecan pegol is a unique, next generation, targeted topoisomerase I inhibitor currently in Phase 3 clinical development as a potential treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

Empire Genomics recently announced that it has acquired an exclusive license for a patent pending novel genomic biomarker from Cornell University for use in developing a molecular diagnostic test that could help in diagnosing and determining treatment for patients with neuroendocrine (NEPC) prostate cancer.

NextBio recently announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) aimed at using NextBio Clinical to incorporate patient omics and clinical data into Sanofi's drug research and development, as part of Sanofi's Translational Medicine for Patients (TM4P) program.